It’s A Wonderful Reality
by AriaJack
Summary: A new twist on an old chapter. Will Jack be able to escape haunting memories, Nightmarish new ones and a realization that without some people, life just isn't worth it. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Hi people! I'm posting this story for my friend, she's 12 years old and loves Stargate! She can't go on so she writes it up and I type it up and post it for her. I hope you like it! This is her first story! **

**---- **

**Sam watched as Jack slowly lowered himself towards the black hole. "Captain." She heard Siler say. She turned; a desk chair was slowly sliding toward her. CRACK! The windows were shattering in slow motion **

**"Colonel, watch out!" She shouted. **

**---- **

**"Did you hear that?" Cromwell asked Jack. Jack looked at him, and then he looked up. **

**"Watch out!" He yelled and ducked his head. Cromwell covered his face with his arm. Seconds later they were both showered with sharp shards of glass. At the same time the iris buckled and a swirling subspace event horizon was revealed. Suddenly Cromwell's rope snapped and Jack watched helplessly as Cromwell was sucked into the gate. Jack started towards the bomb. When he reached it he pushed a few buttons and made sure that the countdown began. Then he stared to swing himself up to the command center. **

**---- **

**Teal'c grabbed the rope and began pulling Jack towards him. Carter started to wind the rope up using the winch. **

**---- **

**Jack stared at them with watery eyes. His body feeling like he had ridden up Mount Everest on a bicycle with the wind in his faces the entire way. He tried to blink and then he fell into the black hole. **

**Jack looked around. So this was what a black hole was like. Strange, he didn't feel tired anymore and he wasn't dead. At least he didn't feel like he was dead. Then again who knew what death was like. Oh, great, now he was being philosophical. He glanced around again and called out "Sam." **

**He was on earth. He glanced around. He was in the middle of the street. A car barreled into him. He raised his arm instinctively to shield himself. The car went right through him. No one noticed. He was in Washington D.C. Something was pulling him toward a large building. He went in. There was a long hallway filled with doors that led to hallways. He went into one. **

**"General Hammond." he said. The General didn't even look up. "Sir, Can you hear me?" No answer. **

**Siler walked in. "Here ya go boss." He was chewing gum. **

**"Thanks Tom. Go ahead and take the rest of the day off. God knows you deserve it. Siler nodded and left. **

**Jack walked to the General's shoulder. He blinked in shock at what he read. It was a report for the N.I.D. general Hammond was helping them launder money for various schemes. **

**---- **

**Suddenly he was in a strange looking apartment building. Two minutes later Daniel crashed into the apartment. He was holding a sack that he immediately began stuffing with loot. Jewelry, electronics, money, and various knick-knacks were all stuffed into the stack. Then a small girl only 5 or 6 years old walked in, she was holding a book. Daniel pulled a gun out of his pocket aimed at and shot the girl. He then calmly went back to looting the apartment. **

**----**

**Jack rushed at him. But at that very moment there was a bright flash of light and Jack found himself in a library staring at a newspaper. The headlines shocked him. "COLONEL COMMITS SUICIDE". He read on. Colonel O'Neill of the United States Air Force Killed himself this morning by putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger. Apparently still grieving for his son who killed himself a few months ago. The Colonel was found with large amounts of Cocaine in his bloodstream.**

**----**

**Jack turned away sick to his stomach. Suddenly he was on Chulak. Teal'c was just a few feet away from him. Apophis was just beyond Teal'c. Apophis was staring at what was, presumably a prisoner. Jack walked over to the prisoner, and realized with a jolt that it was Skaara. Skaara spit at Apophis' feet. Apophis turned to Teal'c "Kill him." Teal'c raised his staff weapon and fired on Skaara, once in the chest and once in the stomach.**

**Jack was already too shocked to try to do anything but stare in horror. Immediately he was back in the black hole. "Teal'c!" he screamed. **

**----**

**Ok, that's all for now, I'll post the rest as soon as my friend sends it to me.**

In the meantime. PLEASE REVIEW!


	2. Chapter 2

Immediately Jack was on Chulak, he was at the stone prison that he, and Sam, and Daniel had been put in after their capture. The Serpent guards were just about to fire on all of the refugees. Fear was thick in the air. Jack turned to see Teal'c, but he wasn't there, instead there was a young Caucasian man with his staff weapon aimed straight at Jack number two's heart.

"I can help these people." Jack number two yelled.

The First Prime of Apophis only sneered. "Jaffa, Cree."

Meanwhile, Jack number one was thinking, "Where is Teal'c?" Suddenly a thought struck him. "Just before this happened he had called Teal'c's name, but Teal'c didn't seem to be here. What if when he called someone's name he immediately was transported into a sort of alternate reality where that person didn't exist? It made sense, after all when he had called Sam's name he hadn't seen her.

But that would mean that Daniel would have murdered and robbed if Sam hadn't made the Stargate program a reality. Then, Jack remembered that Daniel had been at the end of his rope when he had started working on the mysterious Stargate. He himself had been suicidal, and had just started toying with drugs when he had been reactivated.

The firing of a giant staff weapon interrupted his thoughts. He looked up and saw that it wasn't one giant staff weapon but nearly a dozen normal ones going off at the same time. He watched in the horrified realization that they all would have died if Teal'c had never been born. He watched himself and Daniel die, but two of the staff weapons missed and caused holes to the outside in the walls. People started clambering out. He saw almost half of them escape.

Then he was outside. He saw Sam run by with tears in her eyes. People were racing towards the Stargate screaming in panic. He saw Serpent guards scrambling for their ships; others carried staff weapons and zats. Sun blinded his eyes as the shiny metal ships lifted from the air.

Suddenly he was at the Stargate; Kowalski saw the oncoming horde of refugees with the Jaffa right behind them. Flashes of burning light and futuristic sound heralded the arrival of the gliders.

"Dial the gate." Kowalski yelled.

Sam raced up to him. "Colonel O'Neill and Daniel are dead, sir. Almost half the Abydos people didn't make it." Sam reported.

"Alright start evacuating these people." Kowalski ordered, his voice starting to crack from emotion and stress. "Colonel O'Neill was one of the best." He said quietly, so that only Sam could hear.

"Yes, sir" Sam replied Kowalski began ushering refugees through the gate Sam right next to him. A man fell just before entering the gate. Kowalski stooped to administer mouth to mouth to the man. Jack realized what was going to happen seconds before it happened and rushed forward to try and prevent it. He went through the still kneeling Kowalski and barreled headlong into the Stargate. He didn't see the infant goau'ld enter his best friend's body.

He was at Stargate command; he had actually gone through the Stargate not just disappeared and reappeared, but actually went through the gate and experienced the wormhole. He waved his hand in front of one of the refugee's faces. No reaction.

"Darn." Jack said. Suddenly Kowalski and Sam stumbled through the gate.

"Captain, what is going on here? General Hammond asked, through the microphone in the command center.

"Colonel O'Neill and Daniel are dead, Sir. I will explain everything in my report." Sam reported,

"You'd better, because you're leading the debriefing in five minutes, Captain."

"Yes Sir"

A few moments later the refugees stopped coming in. Sam left to start the briefing and the gate room was empty except for Kowalski. Kowalski turned and looked at the gate, his eyes glowed. Jack shivered as he was transported to the debriefing room.

After the debriefing Jack was transported to the next morning. Kowalski was assigned to his planet, and then conveyed the fact that his head was aching.

"Get it checked." General Hammond ordered. Jack was forced to follow his former best friend by the same invisible force that had pushed him around last time. They both turned into the Hospital room at the same time. Jack was whispering to Kowalski in a quiet half strangled voice.

"Kowalski don't do this, please." It was useless Kowalski couldn't hear him. Five minutes later the doctor was dead. Jack knew no one would find the doctor because Daniel wasn't there. The goau'ld was watching Kowalski's team go through the gate moments before it stepped through the gate shut off. Suddenly Captain Carter raced up.

"Stop." she said. Carter rattled off an explanation at hyper speed explaining that she had found the murdered doctor in the barracks.

Kowalski immediately started shooting up the gateroom. He raced up to the command center before anyone had enough sense to close the doors. He then proceeded to kill first General Hammond then Captain Carter then everyone else in the room. He dialed Chulak, and then set the autodestruct. He escaped safely through the gate.

Jack watched with tears in his eyes as the auto destruct counted the last few deadly minutes.

He knelt down next to Carter and realized she was still alive. Jack gently pressed his insubstantial lips to Carters. For a moment he thought he felt the warmth of her skin under his tear salted lips. An eternal moment later a blazing inferno swallowed her. He was left alone in the slowly settling dust. For once he was glad to be swallowed by the cold, soothing darkness of the black hole.


	3. Chapter 3

It's A Wonderful Reality **Chapter Three: Daniel **

Ariajack

For once he was glad to be swallowed by the cold, soothing darkness of the black hole.

He ached. It was a deep pain. It was like watching your house burn down after you've spent years working to make it a comfortable home, and then watching the cute, yellow curtains curl into blackened shreds and the fishing photos of you and your family whither into tiny, bright specks and float away on a cruelly cold dawn breeze. But this was worse; this was like watching your house burn down and being able to hear the screams of your loved ones as they withered away into tiny, bright specks and watching them float away.

Yet again he was in the black hole, and he could hear the screams. Sam engulfed by a blazing inferno. Daniel coldly murdering a small child. Teal'c brainwashed into following Apophis' orders. He, Jack committing suicide months after his son's death. All of it blazed in his brain like hot needles. No, not hot, cold, burning, freezing cold. The silence was deafening. He screamed into the silence, but heard nothing.

Jack stood; he had stayed on the ground even after Sam had been swallowed by the bomb, as though by sitting very still he could make it all disappear, like ashes in the wind. He looked around, all was still. The silence was deafening.

A familiar voice cried, "Hail, the victorious dead."

"Daniel?" Immediately he was on Abydos, the sun beat down on him mercilessly. He wondered why he could feel it, but not the blazing inferno that had swallowed Carter. He was standing in front of the pyramid that was the main landmark on the entire inhabited part of the planet. His thoughts whirled as he climbed up the steps. One question, however, was imperiously demanding an answer. What would happen this time? He stepped inside and came face to face with Kowalski, Sam, and some others that he didn't recognize. Something he couldn't name was bothering him about this scene, but he decided it was just because last time he had seen Sam she had been killed by the man she was calmly standing next to. By now he was starting to put the pieces together more quickly. After a few moments hard thought he realized that because Daniel was not there the gate had not been figured out for months, possibly even years, by that time Ra would have come and gone, and he would have committed suicide. The next visit from a goa'uld this planet would get would be from…. Apophis. As though by just thinking it Jack had called Apophis down on them, the gate started dialing. Kowalski was not worried,

"And why should he be?" As far as he knew this gate and earths' were the only one's in existence. The gates blow out caused everyone to jump, but no one seemed alarmed until Apophis stepped through the gate with Teal'c and a few other Jaffa. Kowalski raised his gun and the rest of the team followed his lead. Teal'c raised his staff weapon and Apophis put up his personal shield, eyes flashing angrily.

"What do you want." Apophis sneered, except it wasn't a question it was a command. Kowalski stepped forward, his gun pointed at the ground. He bowed low, and then addressed Apophis.

"Oh, great lord Apophis. We have begged an audience with you on this neutral planet to show you our candidate for the new host of your queen Amonet." He pushed Sam forward, and Jack suddenly realized that there were several things wrong with that picture, one, Sam was handcuffed, two, she didn't have a gun, three, Kowalski had basically just given up Carter to become a snakehead, four, Kowalski had a goa'uld voice. Jack stared, stunned at what he had just seen and heard. Apophis' eyes moved up and down the length of her body. He smiled coldly and said,

"Very well, I shall overlook your insolence this time, however do not expect me to be so lenient the next time you are late with gifts to your god." His eyes flashed again and his head lifted in an arrogant manner.

"Teal'c, kree sef kokleen Amonet." Jack had no idea what that meant, but he supposed it had something to do with Sam, because Teal'c walked forward and took Sam by the arm, and after one of the other Jaffa dialed the address for Chulak, he dragged her through the gate. Apophis' eyes glowed once more as he turned and walked through the gate.

Before Jack had time to turn around and try to figure out was going on, he was suddenly on Chulak. He realized time must have jumped slightly, because he appeared to be in a room filled with young women stretched on either long couches or smooth, satiny pillows. He ignored them; instead he turned his attention to Sam, who was lying on several small cushions, she was wearing a white, silk dress. It was, in fact, the most modest dress he had seen yet.

Before he had spent more than a minute trying to comfort her with words that she couldn't hear, Teal'c entered the room. For a moment Jack was almost glad to see him, then he remembered the only reason that Teal'c could possibly be here, to find a suitable host for Apophis' queen, Amonet. Teal'c chose Sam.

"Of course he did." Jack thought, he was becoming somewhat tired of watching the few people he cared for die horrible deaths. His own personal sense of humor seemed to be returning. He could feel the humorous, what many would call insubordinate, banter flowing through his body and collecting in his mind to create a shield, a shield of humor to stop the pain. Daniel would probably drag him to a psychologist if he thought that Jack was using humor as a shield, but he could feel his throat start to relax after about an hour of silently trying to hold back tears.

He refused to follow Sam as she left the room with Teal'c, but he found that he had no choice in the matter. The strange invisible force that seemed to enjoy dragging him around was forcing him after them. Normally he would have allowed himself to be pushed, but not right now, now he didn't think he could watch Sam either die or get turned into a goa'uld. He fought the force with all his might. He started to slow down, then finally he stopped.

He groaned as he felt the Mount Everest bicycle feeling, but he had stopped. He wouldn't have to watch Sam get snake headed. He felt the force give one last push, but he didn't give in. He was done with being pushed along by the black hole. However he realized it didn't matter whether he went willingly or not, because as soon as he stopped he was transported to the room were Sam, Apophis and Teal'c were.

"D'oh." Jack said angrily; even though he knew no one could hear him he still tried to sound as displeased and humorous as he usually did. He reviewed his performance.

"Not bad. A little shaky, but not bad." He tried to convince himself that the slight tremor was only because he had just been transported. He tried, and succeeded, almost. A little part of him was screaming that it wasn't his mode of transportation that was bothering him; it was the fact that he cared for the entire team more than he had cared for anyone since he was a lieutenant.

At that point in his life he had bonded with two other teammates in the Air Force. He hadn't realized what Black Ops did with people that you cared for; it had killed Conner, and it had almost killed Kowalski. Jack had almost been unable to drag him out of that burning building in Moscow.

The Russian Mafia had set off the building when his team had found out that the Mafia was planning to start a coup and the Mafia had found out where he and what was left of his team were staying. Conner had died in the fire with three Russian men who had been trapped in the burning blaze. Jack had had to run into the flames, barefoot and shirtless to drag Kowalski out of the flames. He had tried to get Conner out of the building, but he was already dead. A burning log had fallen on his head and chest.

Fire. His entire life seemed to be in continual upheaval because of flame. Sam was killed in a blaze in at least one 'reality'. Charlie dead in a flash of gunfire. Teal'c killing with a blazing staff weapon. Daniel also killing, but with a gun. In fact, the only person he hadn't seen killed so far was himself.

Well at least now he knew his thoughts were no longer a safe haven. He had been transported away from the reality with Sam and Apophis. Actually, he wasn't about to complain. Not watching Sam get snaked was a blessing. However he wasn't sure the alternative was any better. He was in Charlie's bedroom watching himself hold a needle over an already pink, irritated looking arm. He winced as his double stabbed the needle into his arm with an almost hungry look. A few minutes later Jack2 seemed to slip into a daze. Jack knew what was happening; he even knew what was in the needle. Cocaine.

He shuddered, as his clone's eyes twitched underneath his eyelids. The door opened, Sarah walked in. She stared at the deathlike Jack, and then ran up to him, going right through Jack1. She grabbed his shoulders, and began to shake him.

" You promised me." She screamed at his unresponsive body. Her face was contorted in a strange mixture of pain, anger, and fear?

"You promised me you would never do it again." She said softly. She glanced at the needle in his hand and then stared at the bottle next to the alarm clock on the table next to it. Suddenly she got up and walked swiftly over to the white, sliding closet. She pushed it open, grabbed another bottle of the deadly stuff and walked back to her husband.

"Fine, if you want it you can have it." She took the needle and filled it with what was left of the old bottle, and then she stabbed it into his arm with almost a horrified look, as though she couldn't believe what she was doing, but didn't really want to stop it. She pushed the coke into his bloodstream; she then filled another syringe, and plunged it into his arm. She then left the room while Jack1 tried to figure out what was going on.

He finally decided that Sarah hadn't left because he had somehow persuaded her to stay. Or, rather, Jack2 had persuaded her to stay. Then she must have found out that he had started drugs. He could almost hear what happened after that and it wasn't pretty. Jack2 must have told her that he would stop, and then broken his promise by shoving cocaine into system. He had just witnessed Sarah finding out about Jack2's continued addiction. An awful truth suddenly hit him. With that much Cocaine in his system he wouldn't survive the night without medical help. His wife had just effectively murdered him.

Immediately, he found himself back at Apophis' ship. Sam was kneeling before Apophis. His eyes glowed as he pulled her up.

"You will make an excellent host for Amonet." Suddenly his eyes flashed angrily. "You are goa'uld. What is your name?" Her mouth closed into a tight line that obviously gave no allowance to orders from Apophis.

" What is your name?" When she still did not speak he snorted. "Perhaps a few days without nourishment will loosen your tongue. Jaffa, kree ton tanto." Two Jaffa stepped up and began to take her away. Suddenly Sam grabbed the zat from the Jaffa on her left and rapidly shot him twice. Jack expected the other guard to shoot her, but he stared shooting his fellow Jaffa with unexpected ferocity. When all the Jaffa were dead, Sam announced in a suspiciously Goa'uld voice,

"I am the Tok'ra Jolinar. Even as we speak Tok'ra and Tau'ri are surrounding the system lords and killing them. Your faithful servant Selmak who brought me to you and was your voice of power on earth is actually Tok'ra. There is no escape now." With that she raised a small knife and plunged it into his throat. Jack stared in shock as the scene disappeared in a flash of white light. The darkness surrounded him again. 


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 4: Jack

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Jack woke with a start. He had a headache the size of New York and he was more tired than he could ever remember being. It all came rushing back. The pain and confusion of the last three days hit him like a tidal wave. He must have fallen asleep after the last 'reality' that he had been forced to watch. He felt like a goau'ld hand device the size of Seattle had hit him.

Suddenly a glowing light flashed near him, it was so bright that he winced when it his eyes and he felt strangely naked in front of it. The anger and silence of the past few days made him almost scream out a hail. "Who are you?"

"We are that is, what is, was, and will be."

Jack chewed on that for a moment of silence and then called out. "Alright then, who are you?" Sudden understanding flooded his mind. He knew about the ancients and he understood the concept of realities, heck he even understood the word concept. However this was followed by more confusion. "So, why me."

"The acorn does not fall far from the tree, but the acorn does not always know why he is the tree.'

"What?" The light seemed to stare at him for a moment, then it slowly shifted until the recognizable form of a woman appeared.

"You possess a certain, what you call, gene that has its sources among us, the ancients. My brethren have decided that you should be given a chance to ascend."

"Just how do I manage th… whoa." The light woman had suddenly transported them to the gateroom. The iris had buckled and the swirling blackness beyond it was unrecognizable as the soothing blue watery look that it had normally. He watched himself falling into it in slow motion.

"That is you." She said, coming up suddenly behind him.

"Ya' think?" Said Jack sarcastically.

"Tell me. Why did you let go?"

"What? I did not let go." He said emphatically

"You did." She said. She gave him a, quite literally, piercing look, the smiled. "I think I know why now."

"Alright, look lady, Number one, I did not let go, and B. I'm a little on edge right now, so if you could give a few straight answers it would be nice."

"Truth comes only to those who seek it, but lies come very easily to those who do not. Tell me, if truth came easily, and lies were hard to find, would truth be so valuable?

"You seem to want to be told a whole lot here, but you're coming up very short on answers."

"You must find the truth, why did you let go?"

"Hey, I told you, I did not let go."

"Until the tortoise understood that he was in danger, he could not hide himself."

"All right let's start with that, what does that mean?"

She didn't answer and suddenly he was thrown into a collage of colors and images. A thousand memories hit him like an iron sledgehammer. Charlie riding a bike for the first time without training wheels. Coming home from Abydos to an empty house. Eating Jell-o with Kowalski in the commissary. Watching the same Simpson's episodes over, and over, and over again. Drinking Beer for the first time and spluttering at the taste. Studying for a history test the day before the test. Eating take out Chinese food while writing a mission report. Other memories less tasteful appeared. Kowalski dying. Hiding his favorite comic books from his Dad and older brother who would destroy them if they got their hands on them. His brother dying in a car crash. His Dad hanging himself soon afterwards. His life quite literally flashed before his eyes. Why was his life summed up in just those few pictures?

"Now you understand." Said the woman and suddenly he was something else. The feeling was incredible and somewhat painful, but it was also so stimulating that he let out a wild laugh. He had ascended! His thoughts however flew back to Sam and Teal'c, Daniel, and General Hammond. Just because it felt good didn't mean that he wasn't going to go back as soon as he possibly could.

The end


End file.
